Closing means for dish-washing machines



Aug. 16, 1955 w. E. FRECH CLOSING MEANS FOR DISH-WASHING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Jan. 18, 1950 All l .L

Aug. 16, 1955 w. E. FRECH CLOSING MEANS FOR DISH-WASHING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 18, 1950 United States Patent O CLOSING lWEANS FOR DISH-WASHING MACHINES Walter Emil Frech, Lucerne, Switzerland Application January 18, 1950, Serial No. 139,198

2. Claims. (Cl. 134-82) This invention relates to new and improved closing means for dish-washing machines of the kind in which the dishes are supported on a carriage adapted to be moved into and out of a spray chamber.

An object of the invention is to provide in dish-washing machines of the kind indicated a closing means comprising a door which is connected with the dish-supporting carriage in such a way as to cause the carriage to be moved automatically out of the spray chamber by the opening movement of the door and to be returned automatically into the spray chamber by the closing movement of the door.

Another object of the invention is to provide in dishwashing machines of the kind indicated a closing means comprising a door which is foldable and connected at its lower edge by ilexible means to a dish-supporting carriage and at its upper edge by other exible means to the same carriage, both said exible means being mounted on pulleys in such a way as to cause the carriage to be moved automatically out of the spray chamber by the opening movement of the door and to be returned automatically into the spray chamber by the closing movement of the door.

Other objects of the invention will be evident from the following description of an embodiment thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a front view of the dish-washing machine with interior details indicated in dotted lines,

Fig. 2 shows a cross-sectional view on line 2 2 of Fig. 1, and

Figs. 3 and 4 are partial perspective views of the door and the dish-supporting carriage together with connecting exible means and with the door in closed and open position, respectively.

In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the dishwashing machine comprises a casing 1 provided with a substantially horizontal partition, or tray, 2 dividing the casing 1 into a lower chamber and an upper chamber. The lower chamber forms a housing for a motor 3 and a pump 4 connected to be driven by said motor 3. The suction side of the pump 4 communicates with the upper chamber through a pipe 5 which terminates above the tray 2, the inlet opening at the top of said pipe 5 being covered by a screen 12. An outlet pipe provided with an overow 11 communicates with the upper chamber above the tray 2.

Sieves 9, 31 are supported by any suitable means (only partly shown) within the upper chamber at a distance above the overow 11, and above said Sieves 9, 31 a pair of parallel guide rails 15 are disposed which extend horizontally along the side walls of the casing 1 from the rear portion thereof to the front end of a platform projecting from the front of the casing 1 substantially along the entire width of said front which is open from said guide rails 15 upwards, said opening being indicated at 18 in Fig. l. A closure, or door, 19 for the opening 18 is shown in Figs. 3 and 4 as constructed similarly to the roll top of a roll top desk and provided with a handle Cil 2,715,405 Patented Aug. 16, 1955 33 adjacent its lower edge. Flexible members 20, 22 are secured to the lower and upper portions of the door 19, respectively, and arranged to run over pulleys 25 and 23, 26, respectively, said pulleys being rotatably connected with the casing 1. The pulleys 26 also serve as supports for the door 19 during its movements to and from closed position. The exible members 20, 22 are secured also to the lower and upper portions, respectively, of a rear wall 24 forming part of a carriage 16 mounted to move on said guide rails 15 and to support a dish basket 17.

The outlet side of the pump 4 communicates by means of a pipe 6 with a spray box 7 disposed adjacent the top of the casing 1 in the rear part of s-aid casing as best shown in Fig. 2. Said spray box 7 has a perforated bottom 8. The pipe 6 also communicates with a plurality of branch pipes 30 disposed substantially horizontally adjacent the top and the bottom of the compartment 28 of the casing above the sieves 9, 31. Said branch pipes 30 are provided with a plurality of spray openings which in the top branch pipes are disposed on the lower side of Said branch pipes, while said spray openings in the lower branch pipes are disposed on the top side thereof. In the connection between the pipe 6 and the branch pipes 30, a valve 37 is disposed and said valve 37 is provided with operating means adapted to be actuated in a manner described below by a lug 36 secured to one of the exible members 22.

In operation, when the door 19 is raised by means of the handle 33, the ilexible members 20 pull the carriage 16 from its position at the rear of the compartment 28 out of said compartment into the position indicated by dotted lines above the platform 35 in Fig. l. When the ICC carriage 16 is in said forward position, the door 19 and the exible members 22 occupy the position indicated in Fig. 4 in which position the rear Wall 24 of the carriage 16 forms a closure for the major part of the opening 18 as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. In this position of the carriage 16 the basket 17 containing the dishes to be washed is placed on said carriage 16. During the closing movement of the door 19 the carriage 16 with the basket 17 is moved rearwards on the guide rails 15 by the exible members 22, and in the fully closed position of the door 19 said carriage 16 occupies the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

The spray box 7 may be provided with means (not shown) for introducing a detergent or other suitable cleaning material therein. Any suitable means (not shown) may be provided for starting and stopping the pump 4 and, if desired, said means may be automatic and adapted to set the pump in operation when the carriage 17 is in the compartment 28 and to stop the pump 4 when said carriage is outside of said compartment 28 on the platform 35. When the pump 4 is operating and the carriage 16 is in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2, water is delivered from the pipe 6 to the spray box 7 from which it is sprayed together with dissolved detergent through the perforations in the bottom 8 onto the dishes in the basket 17. When the washing of the dishes is completed, the door 19 is again opened, and said opening movement of the door causes the lug 36 to actuate the valve 37 into open position whereby water is admitted to the branch pipes 30 and sprayed through the spray openings in said branch pipes 30 from above and from below onto the dishes as the carriage 16 passes towards the front of the dish-washing machine. Means of any suitable kind (not shown) may be provided to close the valve 37 when the carriage 16 has reached the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 or said valve 37 may be actuated to closed position by the lug 36 when the door 19 is returned to closed position. The abovementioned means for operating the valve 37 as Well as the means for operating the pump 4 are well known in the art and need not be described in detail.

The above detailed description of an embodiment of the invention is intended to show a preferred construc- Vtion of the dish-washing machine only and not to limit the scope of protection, in that numerous variations and modifications are feasible without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. In a machine for washing and rinsing dishes, means forming a chamber having a side opening therein, spray means in said chamber, a carriage for the dishes, guide means for said carriage in said spray chamber, closure means for said opening, flexible means connecting said closure means with said dish carriage so as to automatically move'said carriage out of said chamber when said closure means is moved to open position and retract said carriage into the chamber when said closure means is moved to closed position, and a wall projecting upwards from the rear end of said dish carriage rso as to substantially close said opening when said carriage is substantially outside said chamber.

2. In a machine for washing and rinsing dishes, means forming a chamber having a 'side opening therein, washing spray means in saidY chamber, rinsing spray means in said chamber, a carriagefor the dishes, guide means for said carriage in said chamber, closure means for said opening, flexible means connecting said closure means with said dish carriage so as to automatically move said carriage out of said chamber when said closure means is moved to open position, and retract said carriage into the chamber when said closure means is moved to closed position, a wall projecting upwards from the rear end of said dish carriage so as to substantially close said opening when said carriage is substantially outside said Y chamber, control means for said rinsing spray means, and an abutment member on said exible means for actuation of said control means. Y

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS ,A 673,853 1 Wherry May 7, 1901 1,400,894 Mason Dec. 20*1921 1,546,821 Blakeslee July 21, 1925 1,645,869 Murdoch Oct. 18, 1927 2,036,232 Kinzler Apr. 7, 1936 2,067,838 Girton Ian. 12, 1937 2,216,388 Hampel Oct. 1, 19,40 2,454,198 Pappas Nov. 16, 1948 

